In this essay, I introduce the term "governance inversion" to describe a situation in which a university administration repositions a governance body in such a way as to limit its legitimate governance function. Structural conditions might make governance inversion more likely, but narratives might also be deployed to make the inversion…

Despite recent evidence linking top management power with firm performance, our understanding about the interaction effect between power and personal characteristics of the top manager is still very limited. Building on and extending the Upper Echelons and Power literature, we address the empirical question: How, i.e. UK Vice-Chancellors' (VC)…

There is a growing body of literature on the roles that deans play in challenging times; however, what is often missing are deans' own voices as they reflect on their experiences trying to manage the dilemmas and crises inherent in their work. This is particularly true of the past few years when deans have managed unprecedented levels of…

Institutions, including universities, adapt to the environment in which they operate. By expanding overseas to support study abroad participation, the globalized university is required to adapt to new international environments. This instrumental case study explores the use of international institutional study away sites owned and operated by New…

University students actively participated in the 2019 Hong Kong protests. In this context, the students expected that their universities would support their political stance. Drawing on data from interviews with student leaders, this article documents and examines students' expectations for their university heads, how they interacted and…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of line management in promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Transformational leadership (TL) promotes DEI, and autocratic leadership curbs it. Design/methodology/approach: The research approach is deductive from existing literature followed…

This phenomenological qualitative study examined how collective healing manifests through the work of leaders in higher education at a U.S. university located on the West Coast through semi-structured interviews. Using the construct of collective healing as a conceptual lens, this study explored how the work of leaders in higher education creates…

Academic middle leaders play a critical role in facilitating the leadership of learning and teaching in universities. Previous research has reported the undervaluing and under-resourcing of these academic middle leadership roles. To promote a greater understanding of academic middle leaders, middle leading and middle leadership of learning and…

Global climate change threatens university campuses around the world. However, prior research suggests that universities around the globe tend to prioritize preventing further climate change rather than developing plans to address the effects of ongoing, irreversible climate change. Further, scholarship on climate change and disaster resilience…

This article explores the findings from my professional doctorate that focused on professional services staff in a university in the North West of England and their perceptions of identity. With little literature surrounding the identity of professional services staff, this paper asks if professional services staff relationships with academic…

This study examines the realities and challenges of internationalizing administrative staff in Japanese universities empirically due to the increasing globalization of higher education. The functions and roles of the administrative staff from the policy perspective, with the implementation of mandatory staff development (SD) and reforms to the…

The focus of this small-scale self-evaluation is the implementation of a new middle-management role in a post-92 UK university. A realist appreciative inquiry was undertaken with five women who had been promoted to a middle-management role 18 months prior to the inquiry. This evaluation for knowledge offered an opportunity to reflect on…

There is a dissonance between the formal role of head of academic department represented in institutional discourses and the reality of heads' working practices. This paper provides insight, from the perspective of heads, about how the role is experienced and enacted in one institution. Data are derived from 20 semi-structured interviews with…

The purpose of the qualitative descriptive study was to explore how at least 10 athletic department leaders perceived the evolving managerial roles of the athletic director at a university in the Southeastern US. Mintzberg's Managerial Roles Theory provided the framework for the study and the basis for the following three research questions: How…

Purpose: This paper aims to spark dialogue regarding what it takes to lead well as a university leader post-pandemic. While much has been written about the future challenges facing universities, not a lot has been written about the kind of moral courage that is required to lead them. There never has been a more important time for strong leadership…